The present invention relates to semiconductor structures of light emitting devices, particularly light emitting diodes and laser diodes formed from Group III nitrides, which are capable of emitting light in the red to ultraviolet portions of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Photonic semiconductor devices fall into three categories: devices that convert electrical energy into optical radiation (e.g., light emitting diodes and laser diodes); devices that detect optical signals (e.g., photodetectors); and devices that convert optical radiation into electrical energy (e.g., photovoltaic devices and solar cells). Although all three kinds of devices have useful applications, the light emitting diode may be the most commonly recognized because of its application to various consumer products and applications.
Light emitting devices (e.g., light emitting diodes and laser diodes), herein referred to as LEDs, are photonic, p-n junction semiconductor devices that convert electrical power into emitted light. Perhaps most commonly, LEDs form the light source in the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum for various signals, indicators, gauges, and displays used in many consumer products (e.g., audio systems, automobiles, household electronics, and computer systems). LEDs are desirable as light output devices because of their generally long lifetime, their low power requirements, and their high reliability.
Despite widespread use, LEDs are somewhat functionally constrained, because the color that a given LED can produce is limited by the nature of the semiconductor material used to fabricate the LED. As well known to those of ordinary skill in this and related arts, the light produced by an LED is referred to as xe2x80x9celectroluminescence,xe2x80x9d which represents the generation of light by an electric current passing through a material under an applied voltage. Any particular composition that produces electroluminescent light tends to do so over a relatively narrow range of wavelengths.
The wavelength of light (i.e., its color) that can be emitted by a given LED material is limited by the physical characteristics of that material, specifically its bandgap energy. Bandgap energy is the amount of energy that separates a lower-energy valence band and a higher energy conduction band in a semiconductor. The bands are energy states in which carriers (i.e., electrons or holes) can reside in accordance with well-known principles of quantum mechanics. The xe2x80x9cband gapxe2x80x9d is a range of energies between the conduction and valence bands that are forbidden to the carriers (i.e., the carriers cannot exist in these energy states). Under certain circumstances, when electrons and holes cross the bandgap and recombine, they will emit energy in the form of light. In other words, the frequency of electromagnetic radiation (i.e., the color) that can be produced by a given semiconductor material is a function of that material""s bandgap energy.
In this regard, narrower bandgaps produce lower energy, longer wavelength photons. Conversely, wider bandgap materials produce higher energy, shorter wavelength photons. Blue light has a shorter wavelengthxe2x80x94and thus a higher frequencyxe2x80x94than the other colors in the visible spectrum. Consequently, blue light must be produced from transitions that are greater in energy than those transitions that produce green, yellow, orange, or red light. Producing photons that have wavelengths in the blue or ultraviolet portions of the visible spectrum requires semiconductor materials that have relatively large bandgaps.
The entire visible spectrum runs from the violet at or about 390 nanometers to the red at about 780 nanometers. In turn, the blue portion of the visible spectrum can be considered to extend between the wavelengths of about 425 and 480 nanometers. The wavelengths of about 425 nanometers (near violet) and 480 nanometers (near green) in turn represent energy transitions of about 2.9 eV and about 2.6 eV, respectively. Accordingly, only a material with a bandgap of at least about 2.6 eV can produce blue light.
Shorter wavelength devices offer a number of advantages in addition to color. In particular, when used in optical storage and memory devices, such as CD-ROM optical disks, shorter wavelengths enable such storage devices to hold significantly more information. For example, an optical device storing information using blue light can hold substantially more information in the same space as one using red light.
The basic mechanisms by which light-emitting diodes operate are well understood in this art and are set forth, for example, by Sze, Physics of Semiconductor Devices, 2d Edition (1981) at pages 681-703.
The common assignee of the present patent application was the first in this field to successfully develop commercially viable LEDs that emitted light in the blue color spectrum and that were available in large, commercial quantities. These LEDs were formed in silicon carbide, a wide-bandgap semiconductor material. Examples of such blue LEDs are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,918,497 and 5,027,168 to Edmond each titled xe2x80x9cBlue Light Emitting Diode Formed in Silicon Carbide.xe2x80x9d Other examples of Group III nitride LED structures and laser structures are described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,523,589; 5,592,501; and 5,739,554.
In addition to silicon carbide, candidate materials for blue light emitting devices are gallium nitride (GaN) and its associated Group III (i.e., Group III of the periodic table) nitride compounds such as aluminum gallium nitride (AlGaN), indium gallium nitride (InGaN), and in some circumstances aluminum indium gallium nitride (AlInGaN). These materials are particularly attractive because they offer direct energy transitions with bandgaps between about 1.9 to about 6.2 eV at room temperature. More common semiconductor materials such as silicon, gallium phosphide, or gallium arsenide are unsuitable for producing blue light because their bandgaps are approximately 2.26 eV or less, and in the case of silicon, are indirect semiconductors and inefficient light emitters.
As known to those familiar with LEDs and electronic transitions, a direct transition occurs in a semiconductor when the valence band maxima and the conduction band minima have the same momentum state. This means that crystal momentum is readily conserved during recombination of electrons and holes so that the energy produced by the transition can go predominantly and efficiently into the photon, (i.e., to produce light rather than heat). When the conduction band minimum and valence band maximum do not have the same momentum state, a phonon (i.e., a quantum of vibrational energy) is required to conserve crystal momentum and the transition is called xe2x80x9cindirect.xe2x80x9d The necessity of a third particle, the phonon, makes indirect radiative transitions less likely, thereby reducing the light emitting efficiency of the device.
Generally speaking, an LED formed in a direct bandgap material will perform more efficiently than one formed in an indirect bandgap material. Therefore, the direct transition characteristics of Group III nitrides offer the potential for brighter and more efficient emissionsxe2x80x94and thus brighter and more efficient LEDsxe2x80x94than do the emissions from indirect materials such as silicon carbide. Accordingly, much interest in the last decade has also focused on producing light emitting diodes in gallium nitride and related Group III nitrides.
Although Group III nitrides offer a direct transition over a wide bandgap energy range, the material presents a particular set of technical manufacturing problems. In particular, no commercially-viable technique has yet emerged for producing bulk single crystals of gallium nitride (GaN) that are capable of functioning as appropriate substrates for the gallium nitride epitaxial layers on which photonic devices would be formed.
All semiconductor devices require some kind of structural substrate. Typically, a substrate formed of the same material as the active region offers significant advantages, particularly in crystal growth and lattice matching. Because gallium nitride has yet to be formed in such bulk crystals, gallium nitride photonic devices must be formed in epitaxial layers on non-GaN substrates.
Recent work in the field of Group III nitride substrates includes copending and commonly assigned U.S. patent applications Ser. No. 09/361,945, filed Jul. 27, 1999, for xe2x80x9cGrowth of Bulk Single Crystals of Aluminum Nitride;xe2x80x9d Ser. No. 09/361,944 filed Jul. 27, 1999, for xe2x80x9cGrowth of Bulk Single Crystals of Aluminum Nitride from a Melt;xe2x80x9d Ser. No. 09/111,413 filed Jul. 7, 1999, for xe2x80x9cGrowth of Bulk Single Crystals of Aluminum Nitride;xe2x80x9d and Ser. No. 09/169,385 filed Oct. 9, 1998, for xe2x80x9cGrowth of Bulk Single Crystals of Aluminum Nitride: Silicon Carbide Alloys.xe2x80x9d All of these pending applications are incorporated entirely herein by reference.
Using different substrates, however, causes an additional set of problems, mostly in the area of crystal lattice matching. In nearly all cases, different materials have different crystal lattice parameters. As a result, when a gallium nitride epitaxial layer is grown on a different substrate, some crystal lattice mismatching and thermal expansion coefficient mismatching will occur. The resulting epitaxial layer is referred to as being xe2x80x9cstrainedxe2x80x9d by this mismatch. Crystal lattice mismatches, and the strain they produce, introduce the potential for crystal defects. This, in turn, affects the electronic characteristics of the crystals and the junctions, and thus tends to degrade the performance of the photonic device. These kinds of defects are even more problematic in high power structures.
In early Group III nitride LEDs, the most common substrate for gallium nitride devices was sapphire (i.e., aluminum oxide Al2O3). Certain contemporary Group III nitride devices continue to use it.
Sapphire is optically transparent in the visible and ultraviolet ranges, but has a crystal lattice mismatch with gallium nitride of about 16 percent. Furthermore, sapphire is insulating rather than conductive, and is unsuitable for conductivity doping. Consequently, the electric current that must be passed through an LED to generate the light emission cannot be directed through a sapphire substrate. Thus, other types of connections to the LED must be made.
In general, LEDs with vertical geometry use conductive substrates so that ohmic contacts can be placed at opposite ends of the device. Such vertical LEDs are preferred for a number of reasons, including their easier manufacture and more simple incorporation into end-use devices than non-vertical devices. In the absence of a conductive substrate, however, vertical devices cannot be formed.
In contrast with sapphire, gallium nitride only has a lattice mismatch of about 2.4 percent with aluminum nitride (AlN) and mismatch of about 3.5 percent with silicon carbide. Silicon carbide has a somewhat lesser mismatch of only about 1 percent with aluminum nitride.
Group III ternary and quaternary nitrides (e.g., indium gallium nitride and aluminum indium gallium nitride) have also been shown to have relatively wide bandgaps. Accordingly, such Group III nitrides also offer the potential for blue and ultraviolet semiconductor lasers and LEDs. Most of these compounds, however, present the same problems as gallium nitride, namely the lack of an identical single crystal substrate. Thus, each is typically used in the form of epitaxial layers grown on different substrates. This presents the same potential for crystal defects and associated electronic problems.
Accordingly, the assignee of the present invention has developed the use of silicon carbide substrates for gallium nitride and other Group III devices as a means of solving the conductivity problems of sapphire as a substrate. Because silicon carbide can be doped conductively, vertical LEDs can be formed. As noted, a vertical structure facilitates both the manufacture of LEDs and their incorporation into circuits and end-use devices.
As known to those familiar with Group III nitrides, their properties differ based on the identity and mole fraction of the present Group III elements (e.g., gallium, aluminum, indium). For example, increasing the mole fraction of aluminum tends to increase the bandgap, while decreasing the amount of aluminum tends to increase the refractive index. Similarly, a larger proportion of indium will decrease the bandgap of the material, thus permitting the bandgap to be adjusted or xe2x80x9ctunedxe2x80x9d to produce photons of desired frequencies. This, however, tends to reduce the chemical and physical stability of the crystal. Other effects based on mole fraction include changes in crystal lattice spacing resulting in strain effects.
Accordingly, and despite much effort in this area, a need still exists for devices that incorporate vertical geometry, and that take advantage of the characteristics that result when the proportions of indium, aluminum, and gallium are desirably adjusted in the active layers, cladding layers, and buffer layers of Group III nitride photonic devices.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to produce light emitting diodes and laser diodes from Group III nitrides in a manner that takes advantage of their favorable properties.
The invention meets this object via a semiconductor structure that includes a first cladding layer of a Group III nitride, a second cladding layer of a Group III nitride, and an active layer of a Group III nitride that is positioned between the first and second cladding layers, and whose bandgap is smaller than the respective bandgaps of the first and second cladding layers. In particular, the semiconductor structure is characterized by the absence of gallium in at least one of the active or cladding layers.
The foregoing, as well as other objectives and advantages of the invention and the manner in which the same are accomplished, is further specified within the following detailed description and its accompanying drawings.